TIBCO Software Adds RESTful API Support to Business Modeling Software

The symbiotic relationship between APIs and end users looking to consume the data they provide, got stronger today with the release of an upgrade to ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks software from TIBCO Software. Version 6.0 of TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks adds support for RESTful APIs and enhanced tools for managing the mashups of data drawn from multiple sources.

Thomas Been, senior director of product marketing for TIBCO Software, says users of TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks 6.0 software can not only use RESTful APIs to consume data, but also publish data that other users and applications can consume via RESTful APIs. As the number of data sources across the Web increases thanks to the proliferation of RESTful APIs, interest in making it easier to consume all that data is on the rise. Users of a broad range of applications now want to be able to compare internal data to external data sources to gain more insight into a number of business trends. In addition users are looking to combine multiple processes in a way that drives new sources of revenue for their organization.

While applications have had access to external data sources via Web services for years, the rise of RESTful APIs is making it possible now in many cases for power users of those applications to import and share data without necessarily requiring the direct help of a developer. In fact, as part of a general movement to democratize data integration, Been says the model-driven development approach enabled by TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks enables users to develop, debug, configure and deploy integration processes without having to write any lines of code.

With the rise of modeling tools such as TIBCO ActiveMatrix BusinessWorks many organizations are going to need to define some guidelines for when they need developers to integrate applications versus letting so-called “power users” do it themselves. More often than not power users will be able to model what data needs to be integrated, but developers will still have to optimize the underlying code and applications to optimize the new process.

With an increased ability to simultaneously access multiple sources of Big Data via APIs, it’s clear now that APIs are about to yield something from a business perspective is truly going to be much greater than the sum of its parts. The good news is that giving end users modeling tools means that developers don’t have to spend nearly as much time figuring out exactly what to integrate. The reason for this is because end users, to a large degree, will finally be able to show developers what they want.

The degree to which a developer will need to get involved after that will vary depending on how complex that integration actually is.